Upstate schools perform well on report cards

School districts in the Upstate fared well on their new report cards, including one that earned the highest scores in the state.

According to information that the South Carolina Department of Education released Thursday, the public school districts in Anderson, Pickens and Oconee counties all scored B or better. Williamston-based Anderson School District 1 received the highest overall point total in the state.

The new reporting system scores schools and school districts based on their performance on up to 77 different objectives. Those scores are translated into letter grades ranging from A to F, with 100 to 90 being an A; 89 to 80 being a B; and so on. The reports — released under provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act — replace reports on adequate yearly progress, or AYP.

Previously, schools and districts were judged on their ability to meet multiple, more than 30 in some cases, objectives. If a school failed to meet even one of its objectives, it was considered to have failed to make adequate yearly progress.

District 1 received an overall point total of 96.7, or an A, which stood alone as the highest numeric score in the state. Only 26 districts in the state received A's, including Honea Path-based Anderson School District 2 and city of Anderson-based Anderson School District 5.

"We are pleased with the results of our efforts for 2012," said Wayne Fowler, District 1 superintendent. "Anderson 1 continues to score among the top in the state. The administration, teachers, students and parents are to be commended for their role in this rating."

Pendleton-based Anderson School District 4 and Iva-based Anderson School District 3 both scored B's, as did the school districts of Pickens and Oconee Counties.

"There are many ways to rate schools," said Lee D'Andrea, District 4 superintendent. "These results reflect a significantly different calculation system. Our state calculations, which will be released later this fall, will reflect the traditional ratings of excellent, good, average and below average labels. Currently, we have two entirely different systems of rating schools in South Carolina. Regardless of the rating system, our focus is on students' learning and graduation."

South Carolina education Superintendent Mick Zais said the new system provides "the public with a transparent and accurate reflection of current levels of students achievement and improvement. The new federal report card tells students, parents, schools and the public how schools are performing in a clear and easily understood system of letter grades. Students have received letter grades on their report cards for decades; schools and school district should be held to the same level of accountability and transparency."

But School District of Oconee County Superintendent Michael Lucas said providing blanket letter grades to schools doesn't give a true idea of school quality.

"Each school had varying numbers of subgroups, and this increased the complexity of a school meeting the target as indicated in the index," Lucas said. "Using an Olympics diving analogy, a dive in the pool receives a score, but each of the dives varies in complexity and level of difficulty. Some of our schools had larger numbers of subgroups, while others did not. So, the rating is a look at subgroup performance in the individual school and not a comparison of schools to one another."

Lucas also said, after finding what the Oconee district believes are several mistakes, that there are kinks to be ironed out with the new system. The Oconee district, along with at least one other in the Upstate, have taken issue with indexes and ratings for some schools.

"I'm sure the South Carolina Department of Education will be issuing some updates in the next few weeks as mistakes are pointed out to the statisticians in Columbia," Lucas said.

State officials said a larger percentage of students met state standards on PASS tests, while 80 percent of high school students passed HSAP on their first try.

"Our focus must always be on what happens in the classroom between a teacher and students," Zais said. "Credit for these results belongs to the hard work of students, teachers and parents across South Carolina. Student achievement should continue to increase if we encourage policies that personalize and customize education for every child."